Related papers: On Bipartite Distinct Distances in the Plane

Let P_1 and P_2 be two sets of points in the plane, so that P_1 is contained in a line L_1, P_2 is contained in a line L_2, and L_1 and L_2 are neither parallel nor orthogonal. Then the number of distinct distances determined by the pairs…

Let $P$ be a set of $n$ points in the real plane contained in an algebraic curve $C$ of degree $d$. We prove that the number of distinct distances determined by $P$ is at least $c_d n^{4/3}$, unless $C$ contains a line or a circle. We also…

We show that for $m$ points and $n$ lines in the real plane, the number of distinct distances between the points and the lines is $\Omega(m^{1/5}n^{3/5})$, as long as $m^{1/2}\le n\le m^2$. We also prove that for any $m$ points in the…

We consider the problem of determining the number of distinct distances between two point sets in $\mathbb{R}^2$ where one point set $\mathcal{P}_1$ of size $m$ lies on a real algebraic curve of fixed degree $r$, and the other point set…

In 1997, Erd\H{o}s asked whether for arbitrarily large $n$ there exists a set of $n$ points in $\mathbb{R}^2$ that determines $O(\frac{n}{\sqrt{\log n}})$ distinct distances while satisfying the local constraint that every 4-point subset…

We improve the current best bound for distinct distances on non-ruled algebraic surfaces in ${\mathbb R}^3$. In particular, we show that $n$ points on such a surface span $\Omega\left(n^{32/39-\varepsilon}\right)$ distinct distances, for…

As a variant of the celebrated Szemer\'edi--Trotter theorem, Guth and Katz proved that $m$ points and $n$ lines in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with at most $\sqrt{n}$ lines in a common plane must determine at most $O(m^{1/2}n^{3/4})$ incidences for…

Let $p_1,p_2,p_3$ be three non-collinear points in the plane, and let $P$ be a set of $n$ other points in the plane. We show that the number of distinct distances between $p_1,p_2,p_3$ and the points of $P$ is $\Omega(n^{6/11})$, improving…

We first describe a reduction from the problem of lower-bounding the number of distinct distances determined by a set $S$ of $s$ points in the plane to an incidence problem between points and a certain class of helices (or parabolas) in…

Let $P$ be a finite point set in $\mathbb{R}^2$ with the set of distance $n$-chains defined as $$ \Delta_n(P)=\{(|p_1-p_2|,|p_2-p_3|,\ldots,|p_n-p_{n+1}|):p_i \in P\}.$$ We show that for $2\leq n=O_{|P|}(1)$ we have $$|\Delta_n(P)|\gtrsim…

In this paper, we propose new techniques for solving geometric optimization problems involving interpoint distances of a point set in the plane. Given a set $P$ of $n$ points in the plane and an integer $1 \leq k \leq \binom{n}{2}$, the…

The Erd\H{o}s distinct distance problem is a ubiquitous problem in discrete geometry. Less well known is Erd\H{o}s' distinct angle problem, the problem of finding the minimum number of distinct angles between $n$ non-collinear points in the…

We study the structure of planar point sets that determine a small number of distinct distances. Specifically, we show that if a set P of n points determines o(n) distinct distances, then no line contains \Omega(n^{7/8}) points of P and no…

According to a classical result of Spencer, Szemer\'edi, and Trotter (1984), the maximum number of times the unit distance can occur among $n$ points in the plane is $O(n^{4/3})$. This is far from Erd\H{o}s's lower bound, $n^{1+O(1/\log\log…

This paper considers an extremal version of the Erd\H{o}s distinct distances problem. For a point set $P \subset \mathbb R^d$, let $\Delta(P)$ denote the set of all Euclidean distances determined by $P$. Our main result is the following: if…

We consider the number of distinct distances between two finite sets of points in ${\bf R}^k$, for any constant dimension $k\ge 2$, where one set $P_1$ consists of $n$ points on a line $l$, and the other set $P_2$ consists of $m$ arbitrary…

The Erd\H os unit distance conjecture in the plane says that the number of pairs of points from a point set of size $n$ separated by a fixed (Euclidean) distance is $\leq C_{\epsilon} n^{1+\epsilon}$ for any $\epsilon>0$. The best known…

Erd\H{o}s conjectured in 1946 that every n-point set P in convex position in the plane contains a point that determines at least floor(n/2) distinct distances to the other points of P. The best known lower bound due to Dumitrescu (2006) is…

We show that for any large $n$, there exists a set of $n$ points in the plane with $O(n^2/\sqrt{\log n})$ distinct distances, such that any four points in the set determine at least five distinct distances. This answers (in the negative) a…

Erd\H{o}s' unit distance problem and Erd\H{o}s' distinct distances problem are among the most classical and well-known open problems in discrete mathematics. They ask for the maximum number of unit distances, or the minimum number of…